Once Upon a Time
by cookiemonsterr.xx
Summary: What happens when the sweet Clare Edwards meets the mysterious Eli Goldsworthy? My version of their love story. Rated T for language and content, may be changed to M later.
1. New Kid In School

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi cause if I did then I'd be the one with Eli (:**

I walked into my grade 11 Advanced English class, looking around for a familiar face. I spotted Adam, a new boy at our school who seemed rather friendly to me and took a seat beside him.

"Hey, you're in this class too?" he asked.

"Yeah, my writing was good enough to be placed in the advanced class. I hope the teacher doesn't move us, I don't know anyone in this class besides you," she said, slightly scared at the thought of being alone.

But of course the second the teacher, Mrs. Dawes, walked in, she announced,

"Everyone get up, I will be seating you in alphabetical order."

Everyone in the class groaned, slowly got out of their chairs and moved to the front of the class, waiting for their new seat. She called out various names in alphabetical order according to their last name and pointed to where they would be sitting for the remainder of the year.

"Collins, David. Down, Samantha. Edwards, Clare. Goldsworthy, Elijah. Oh. He isn't here yet. Well, moving on…" The teacher continued as Clare moved to her seat.

Since the seat in front of her meant for this Elijah was vacant, she put her feet on it and tried to relax. She sighed in relief as Adam was placed in the row beside her. They high-fived and Clare thought, _maybe this class wont be so bad_.

All of a sudden, the door of the classroom flew open and a boy dressed all in black stood there, looking a little out of breath but smirking all the same.

"Sorry, my car broke down and I had to run to school," he explained.

"Ah, I'm guessing you must be Mister Goldsworthy. Please take the seat in front of Miss Edwards." The teacher said as she pointed to the chair in front of Clare. Clare frowned a little, but removed her feet from his chair.

Eli walked to his seat, but his eyes never left Clare. _Well, this is a little odd_, she thought. This stranger was looking at her with a look that could basically be translated into;_ I want you_. What was strange for Clare was that although she knew nothing about this stranger except his name, she found herself liking his stare. She blushed as he sat down, but tried to pay attention to what the teacher was now explaining. She didn't realize how her whole life was about to change, and all because of this stranger.

**Okay, so this is my first actual story, but I have made a one-shot of Eclare before. (Check it out and review!) I have an idea for a plot but it'll be different from the show, so just forget about the show unless I tell you otherwise. This is just a cute, fun Eclare story but some of the events will be based on my life. Don't worry, I'll make it interesting but still have the characters act like the Clare and Eli we've come to know and love. Okay, so please review because I want to see if you like it, if there are things I should change and if you have suggestions. You review, it helps me want to write to write and you get chapters that much faster. Okay, got it? Now…review! 3**

**Btw; Chapters will come out on an irregular cycle because I'm starting school tomorrow so I don't know when I have time to write. But don't worry; they will be up as often as possible!**


	2. The Start of Something New

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi because if I did it would be Eclare all the time (:**

Mrs. Dawes was describing what projects they would be working on all year, but Eli tuned her out and focused on coloring his fingernails black with his Sharpie. He was pretty sure that the fumes of the marker were getting to his brain because all he could think about was the beautiful girl sitting right behind him and ways he could get her alone with him... _Whoa dude, you don't even know her,_ he thought to himself. He only paid attention to the teacher when she announced they would be working in partners all throughout the year and started assigning them.

"Elijah, you will be with Clare." She said as she walked up to them and handed them a paper for their first assignment.

"I go by Eli," he responded to the teacher and turned around to face his new partner.

Clare blushed as she felt his gaze on her, but looked up and smiled shyly, saying "Guess we're partners, then."

"Good job Clare, I'm glad to know you can hear," he said sarcastically. But inside, he was just happy at how lucky he was to have an excuse to talk to her.

Already, he felt like this was going to be a good year.

Clare sighed as she walked out of class. This new boy was already starting to irk her and she'd only been with him for an hour. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped. She turned and saw Eli's smirking face only inches away from hers. _Whoa, a little too close,_ she thought as she held her breath and backed away from him. Even if she was constantly being made fun of by him, Eli's sea-green eyes, dark hair and annoying smirk had already made Clare start to fall for him.

"Hey, partner. Just thought you could sit with Adam and I. We can start working on that assignment. What was it about again?" he said and grabbed her hand, dragging her with him to the picnic table outside where Adam was already waiting for them. Since there was no way Clare could get out of this, she followed him and sat down at the table, smiling at Adam. They discussed what they were going to do for the project.

"So Blue Eyes, my house to work on the project after school?" Eli asked Clare.

"Huh? What's with the nickname?" Clare asked, forgetting about the question he asked.

Eli looked at her thoughtfully and said his first comment to Clare without sarcasm.

"Because… You have really pretty eyes." Clare blushed at the compliment and looked down, picking at the lunch her mom had made. She didn't seem so hungry anymore.

"So, my house after school, okay? Meet me at Morty, my trusty hearse," he said, smirking as he got up from the table and left.

Clare sighed because he didn't leave her much choice. Before she could even begin to think about what would happen this afternoon, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

**Hehe, semi-cliffie for you guys. :P So thanks to everyone who either reviewed my previous chapter or added it to story alerts. It made me smile, and making me smile means you get the next chapters quicker. Sorry this chappie is kinda lame, it's more of a filler and I needed a reason for them to hang out. So now, a few questions for you:**

**1. What should happen between Eli and Clare when she goes over to his house?**

**a) Actually work on the project with occasional flirting, maybe a kiss?**

**b) Ditch the project and watch a movie or do something else fun (insert suggestions here)**

**c) Ditch project and have Eli bring Clare on a little trip, including flirting and some kissing**

**2. What kind of flirting and kissing should they do, if any?**

**a) Super steamy, super romantic stuff**

**b) Cute flirting and a small kiss, but only light and fluffy**

**c) Nothing at all or either just flirting or just kissing, or one of your suggestions.**

**Review, my darlings! 3**


	3. Sticky Situation

Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi because if I did, nobody would be wearing those awful uniforms :)

The rest of the day seemed to pass by extremely slowly for Clare. When the final bell rung, she practically ran out of Algebra to get her stuff from her locker and headed off to Morty. When she got there, she realized she was a little early so she took out her iPod and put her headphones on, turning the music up loud.

I saw her there, leaning against Morty looking stunning as she tapped her foot to the beat of the music she was listening to. She was looking up to the sky so I decided to jump from behind her and I wrapped my arms around her waist. She screamed and tried to run away from me, but I gripped on tight. When she turned around and saw it was me, her eyes practically shot daggers at me.

"What. The. Hell. Why would you even think about doing that," she hissed at me.

"Whoa, didn't know Saint Clare could swear like that. And calm down, I was just trying to open the door for you but you were in the way," I said as I let go of her waist and opened the hearse's passenger door. Frowning, she got in the car but made no attempt to say anything else. I ran around the hearse and jumped in and left for my house.

"Wow, I didn't realize you lived so close to me," she mumbled as she got out in front of my house. We walked up to the door and I unlocked it and let her in. She stared around, and I smirked when her mouth opened and she realized how normal my house seemed.

"What were you expecting, my house to resemble the Addams' family house or something?" I asked, still smirking.

"Uhh,n-no," she stuttered.

We got to work on our project, and an hour later my living room carpet was full of scraps of construction paper and our hands were sticky from the glue we used. She excused herself to go wash her hands, but I followed her to my kitchen. She jumped when I closed my hands over hers that were in the sink, being washed.

"Let go! You're making my hands sticky and I just finished washing them!" she giggled and splashed a little water at me.

"Oh no, you didn't! You have ruined my shirt with water; you shall now pay for that!" I said, running after her, trying to splash her with water.

She laughed and kept running around my house, but I caught up to her and grabbed her waist, turning her around so she was facing me but I didn't let her go.

"I got you now," I smirked and rubbed one of my wet hands all over her face.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!" she giggled, but then stopped when she realized we were close enough that our noses were practically touching. She looked down at my lips quickly, and licked hers nervously. I looked at her eyes, and saw shock, but also anticipation. As if she was waiting for me to see if I would actually kiss her.

I stared into those gorgeous emerald eyes, a little shocked at how close we were when only a few days ago we were complete strangers. While my mind said "_Don't do it Clare, don't kiss him. He's probably going to break your heart like KC did,_" my heart was thudding and I really just wanted to feel his lips on my, his tongue in my mouth, see if it was as good as I thought it would be…

All too quickly, he let go of me and mumbled a "Sorry," and walked to the living room to clean up our mess. My brain couldn't even begin to register what had just happened, so I tried to forget about it and went to help him.

Little did I know I would never forget that moment…

**Okay, so I hope you enjoyed that! I just started school again yesterday so my updates will be less frequent. Also, I was pretty upset when I went to my classes and there was no mysterious Eli Goldsworthy-like guy in them. :( Well im thinking of adding another chapter later on tonight or tomorrow. I will probably only post chapters 3-4 times a week, depending how busy I am. Please give me an honest review, and make it long and detailed! I need some like that, no matter how much I enjoy the ones that tell me how good this story is. 3**


	4. The Other Newbie

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi because if I did, I would be in the show too no matter what people think of my acting :)**

Eli's POV

It had been a day since Clare had come over, yet I couldn't quite believe what had happened. What was fun and innocent turned to something deeper and new. I wish I had kissed her, yet I didn't know if that was what she wanted and I sure as hell didn't want to make a fool out of myself. I drove to school and sat in the parking lot waiting for her to get there, when I saw someone I didn't recognize. I got out of my hearse and went over to see who he was, because people were already asking him questions. Eavesdropping, I could hear a few sentences and had gathered that he was Martin Clemming, in grade 10, and apparently was very fond of God and the whole church thing. The last comment made me smirk because it reminded me of a certain someone…

As if on cue, Clare walked into the school yard and smiled when she spotted me. She sped up and stood beside me, looking at the crowd of people around the Martin kid.

"What's with the crowd?" she asked.

"Some new kid, says his name is Martin Clemming. C'mon, I told Adam we'd meet up with him at a picnic table," I responded, taking her hand and trying to pull her along with me towards the tables.

"Martin Clemming? Oh, he goes to my church!" she said excitedly, pulling away from me and going into the crowd to say hello.

I quickly followed her but stopped as I felt my heart squeeze with an emotion I wasn't able to name when she hugged Martin as if they were old friends. And, knowing they both went to the same church; I was guessing they probably were. I heard her squeal when he told her he had just transferred to Degrassi. The bell rang to get to first period and she walked away with him inside the school without even glancing back at me.

My heart squeezed tightly again and realized what emotion I was feeling. Jealousy.

**Haha, little cliffie, but I'm sorry it was so short. I only did that so I could start a new chapter and not make this one super long. This AN is dedicated to everyone who has added this story to favorites, story alerts, author alerts, favorite author and who reviewed! Every single one of the email I get stating these things make me smile oh-so-much. I also took into consideration the suggestions of two people and included them. What do you think about me writing who's POV it is? I'm not sure if I like writing it on top, cause I like to write my story so that you have to guess who's thinking/talking, but I always make it obvious. Suggestions, feedback, and reviews are all super greatly appreciated! 3**


	5. Jealousy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi but will always love it as my own :)**

All day. She hasn't talked to me or even barely glanced at me all day cause she's been with that stupid Martin guy. And to think that just recently it seemed as if we had a connection, that maybe she really did like me. Who was I kidding; I was just all-black wearing, Goth freak Eli Goldsworthy. A perfect little Christian girl like Clare would never fall for me; it must have all been in my head. Obviously she would like the perfect little Christian boy. That's how life works. And that's how I ended up sitting alone at our usual picnic table since Clare was eating with Martin a few tables away and Adam was home with the flu. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but every time Martin would make Clare laugh my hands would ball up into fists, my sharpie-covered nails digging into my palms. I hated how she could be so close to me one day and totally ignore me another. That fucking Clemming bastard was taking away the one girl that I was actually starting to like; he was going to have to pay for that. I was about to get up and punch the guy out or something when they suddenly got up and left. My heart stopped when Martin grabbed Clare's hand and she made no attempt to let go of his.

Eli sighed, got up and strode to the parking lot. He got into Morty and drove away. He couldn't stand that Martin guy and didn't want to see whatever else the idiot was going to try with Clare. Because he knew in his mind that as much as he liked, maybe even loved, Clare, he should stay away from her. In his mind he knew her parents would completely accept Martin while they would question and reject Eli, even though his heart told him to keep trying to win Clare over.

Eli drove to his house, not caring that he was missing his last class of the day; English. Before it had been his favorite class because Clare was there and he was able to look at her, make her smile, stare at her… The list could go on, but Eli stopped before his grip on his steering wheel got any tighter and threatened to break either his hands or the wheel.

Now, he absolutely hated English with a passion. Because that was the class he now had with both Clare and Martin, and he didn't want to see either of them. If he did, he feared he would lose all his self control and something bad would happen.

**Okay, another short chapter but since I posted two short chapters, it equals one long one. Plus now you see more of what is happening. Enjoy this chapter and pretty please review! Reviews make me happy and inspire me to write, and ones that give me suggestions and that offer critique and stuff actually really help. Did you watch the fall promo for Degrassi? I started flipping out, and I'm scared of what's gonna happen, but I hope October comes soon! Eclare forever, please stay together! Okay, thanks for reading and I will update ASAP! 3**


	6. Acting

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi because if I did, the Vegas Night wouldn't have ended with Clare telling Eli she couldn't be with him :)**

I got out of my hearse and went to sit under a tree near Degrassi High. I put in my headphones on and turned the volume of my iPod on as loud as it could go, so I could forget about everything for a little while. I was looking around school and saw Martin sitting on the stairs, probably waiting for Clare. I fumed when I saw Clare get out of her mom's car and was greeted by Martin running towards her.

I couldn't stand him. The second I got out of my car, he practically assaulted me while saying,

"Hey Clare! How are you? I was just waiting for you here!"

Ugh, if only Martin had an off switch. I plastered a fake smile on and turned to face him.

'I'm doing well, Martin. I just have to go see Alli, so ill see you later!" I responded, trying to hurry off to Alli's direction.

No such luck. He followed me and wrapped his arm around my waist while I was making small talk with Alli, hoping he would go away. He was a nice person; I just didn't like him and was too shy to tell him. I glanced around, looking for Eli. I noticed him sitting under a tree, focusing on his comic book while listening to his iPod. I couldn't understand why he was ignoring me because I hadn't done anything to him. Or so I thought, because I couldn't come up with any reason for him to ignore me. We were only English partners, why would he care about anything in my life? He glanced up with I was still staring at him, our eyes meeting for a moment. His facial expression was hard, as though he was angry or something. I couldn't really understand why, so I turned around and focused on what Alli was saying about Drew.

She was still with him. And he even had his fucking arm around her waist. From the way he had greeted her mother before she left, I was guessing he was accepted by Mrs. Edwards and that probably meant they were going out. Great. I continued to read my comic book and waited for Adam to come to school. I looked up to look at Clare again, but this time she turned around and looked right at me and our eyes met. I could see she looked a little uncomfortable, but I didn't really understand why. I was pissed off because that guy still had his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, something I wish I could have been doing. She turned away quickly, slightly blushing. At least I still affected her somehow. I saw Clare pull out her phone turn away from Martin slightly, texting someone as she did. Huh. It seemed like she didn't want him to see the message.

A second later, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I smirked slightly because I was hoping it was Clare that was texting me. No such luck. It ended up being Adam, who said he decided to stay home again because he was still feeling sick. I texted back a quick "Hope you feel better soon" and returned to my comic book. My phone vibrated again and I sighed, thinking it was Adam responding back. But it was from someone different.

"Help me. I can't stand Martin! "

It was from Clare. I smirked and felt all the jealousy and anger disappear. I was overjoyed that she hated the bastard, though I wasn't about to let it show. I walked towards them while trying to figure out an excuse for her to come with me.

"Hey Edwards, I was thinking we could go over the oral for our project now," I said casually.

"Oh, hey Eli. Sure, umm… I'll see you guys later," she said quickly to Alli and Martin while sliding out of Martin's arm. She grabbed my hand and practically ran into the school, pulling me along.

"I. Can't. Stand. Him," She stated, looking furious. She continued talk, saying,

"He's always trying to touch me and talk to me. He's just sooo annoying! That reminds me of someone else I know," she added the last part, smirking at me.

"Ouch Clare, I didn't think I annoyed you. And anyways, you seem to like it when I annoy you," I smirked right back, my smirk getting wider as her cheeks became red.

"Look, I don't want to be mean to him but I need an excuse to stop hanging out with him," she sighed.

"Why not tell him you have a boyfriend?" I suggested, while images of being Clare's boyfriend popped into my head.

"But I don't..."

"Well he doesn't know that. And I can be a pretty good actor when I want to be,"

"Whoa there Elijah, who said anything about you being my pretend boyfriend?" she said, her face innocent but the gleam in her eyes telling me that she was being sarcastic.

"Well I know you well enough to know that it's what you're thinking right now," I smirked as she blushed and looked down.

"Fine, Goldsworthy. But your acting better be good."

She had no idea how much I wish we weren't just acting.

**Okay, I think this chapter went well. Reviews, please? And thanks to EVERYONE who has reviewed, added to story to favourites, or subscribed to my story. It means so much to me! So any suggestions for what can happen next? I'm running out of ideas, but I'll try as hard as possible to come up with something interesting to happen. My updating may be infrequent but I'm sorry if its not quite that often because I do have school. REVIEW please! 3**


	7. That Four Letter Word

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi because if I did, well let's just say the kiss before Eli's French exam? It would have happened to me. :)**

We walked into English class holding hands. I still felt kind of nervous because I wasn't sure if Martin would believe us or not, but that thought disappeared completely when I saw his face fall as he noticed our intertwined hands. I felt really bad but I had to remind myself why I was doing this. _Calm down Clare, you know he was getting really annoying,_ I thought to myself. I could tell Eli was really enjoying this because he smirked as he caught a glance of Martin's face, and squeezed my fingers in response. He was really enjoying this pretending, but part of my heart wished it wasn't just acting.

"So, Clare-bear. To make this seem official, I think we should go to the Dot after school," he leaned over and whispered as the teacher started her lecture.

"Oh, Elijah. Are you asking me out on a date?" I whispered back sarcastically, but in my head all I could think of was _Say yes! Say yes!_

"Well, it's all purely for the acting. I need to prove to you that I can in fact be a good actor," he replied, just as sarcastic.

We were sitting in the Dot, discussing anything we could think about. I was actually really enjoying myself, although I had said we were only acting. If acting was this much fun, I couldn't wait to see what it would be like when we really did start going out.

I saw Adam walk past the Dot, vaguely looking in the window. He did a double-take when he saw me with Clare and ran inside to our table.

"No way, dude. You guys are FINALLY going out?" he exclaimed, looking surprised. "I never really thought you'd ever realize you both liked each other,"

I was a little shocked, but inside I was surprisingly happy when he said that. Maybe there was a chance Clare liked me nearly as much as I loved her. _Whoa, I just admitted I love her_, I thought. It finally hit me; I was in love with her. My thoughts on how to ask her out for real evaporated when Clare said,

"Oh, ummm… I got annoyed at Martin for trying to be my boyfriend so Eli suggested that we act as if we were together. So we're just, umm... Acting."

"Yeah, what she said," I said, a little disappointed but trying not to show it by taking a sip of my coffee.

I couldn't believe I just said that. I may have ruined my only chance with Eli Goldsworthy. I hated how upset I was when he agreed with me when I said we were just acting.

"Come on, guys. Do you honestly believe you're just acting? Everyone but you two knows you like each other. Just accept it and move on, become a couple, etc. We all know that it's what's going to happen." He sighed and walked out of the coffee shop.

Without being able to stop myself, I could already see my future with Eli in it. He would walk to me class, kiss me, and take me out on dates… I could even see up to our wedding day, me in a beautiful white gown and him in a tuxedo- black, of course. I looked at Eli and saw he was staring at me, as though trying to decipher a really difficult puzzle.

"What are you looking at?" I wondered.

"Well, you, of course. But also thinking about what Adam said. Why don't we get out of here," he answered, saying the last part quickly as he got up and we left. I couldn't really understand what he was in such a rush to do, but ran and followed him anyways. I walked over to his hearse, thinking he was going to drive me home but he grabbed my hand. He brought me to the park that was near the Dot and we sat on a bench near some trees.

"So, are you as in love with me as Adam thinks you are?" he asked, his green eyes piercing into my blue ones. I blushed and looked down, mumbling something incoherent. He put his hand on my cheek and forced me to look up into his face. I was pretty sure by now I was blushing ten shades of red. Yet I was not at all expecting what he did next.

I saw the moment as if it was happening in slow motion. Eli leaned forwards, all while keeping his gaze locked on mine. Just inches away from my face, he stopped moving and whispered "Well Adam was wrong."

"Umm, wrong how? You don't like me?" I whispered back, my throat closing off and my eyes starting to fill up. I tried to look away so Eli couldn't see that I was crying because of how much that hurt me. I guess all those things he did really were acting; he had no feelings for me. Instead, he held my face gently but hard enough so I couldn't move an inch and waited till I looked back at his emerald eyes.

"He was wrong. Because I don't like you, I love you," he whispered fiercely before placing his lips on mine. The kiss was soft and gentle, yet filled with love and kindness. "I love you too, so much," I whispered back, tearing up again but this time with tears of happiness. I thought about how I never knew how much Eli actually cared about me and I was confident that I really loved Eli and that even if we hadn't known each other for very long; this was something that would last a long, long time. After that my thinking ceased altogether as he deepened the kiss. We continued like this for the rest of the evening, only pausing for air and when Eli would look at me, his emerald eyes filled with love. This was one night that would surely be the best, maybe even of my whole life. Because it was the day Eli said he loved me. And I loved him back, with all my heart.

**Okay, so I'm not sure if this is a good chapter or not, but it will probably be the end of this fic. Yes I know, I'm sorry! And I'm also sorry that it was a short fic, but wtv. I've run out of ideas, but I got the best ideas for two new stories. Preview of those stories for everyone: Story 1- Eclare, only the way they meet and multiple events will be different from the show and this fic. Story 2- Eclare get married! Story will be from the engagement to the big day. I got this idea when I went to a wedding show and saw how magical they are, and how Eclare really should get married. So it will be my idea for their wedding. Add me to author alerts because it's easier than checking my profile each day to see when I write these stories :). Hopefully they will be up soon and ill try as hard as I can to publish them ASAP. So review this chapter, say anything! And thanks to EVERYONE who has added this story to alerts/favourites, adding me to alerts/favourites, and reviewed. I love you all! Check out my other fics, more to come soon! 3**


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